Thank you, everyone, for your donations, and for keeping us in your thoughts on this day.

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It was incredible. It was absolutely incredible to be a part of this event. I don't have the words to describe it. The photos will have to tell the story for me:
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My sister found out almost two weeks ago why Ava was born still. Annette was diagnosed with a blood clotting disorder called Factor V Leiden. It's a genetic mutation, and basically it dramatically increases the risk of developing blood clots -- due to surgery, long car rides or airplane flights, or during pregnancy. If you have this disorder, it ( Read more... )

Annette made a request on Ava's webpage Our Angel Ava, and I offered to help her spread the word to more people. She's organizing a project to help other grieving parents, and to keep Ava's memory alive. She's so brave and generous in wanting to help other grieving parents when her own grief is still so raw, and I desperately want to help her out. ( Read more... )

Annette was released from the hospital last night -- she was admitted late Tuesday night with what ended up being a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in her lung) -- probably resulted from going through labor. I did some research online (as always -- my way of coping with things is to try to learn everything I can about it) and women's risk of ( Read more... )

I said to Colby last Wednesday afternoon, after leaving the mercy meal following Ava's funeral, that it almost seemed surreal. Here we were, grieving, coping with such horrible pain just gnawing at your heart, and people were out on the streets strolling along, riding bikes, walking dogs, running errands, pushing strollers, having not a clue about ( Read more... )

I haven't been able to write before, I've thought about it but haven't known what to write. I still don't know. I still don't know how this can happen. My sister's baby, Ava Carmella, was born still on Thursday, March 23, at 7:44 pm. She had a regular check-up on Wednesday afternoon, and the midwife was unable to find Ava's heartbeat. She was gone ( Read more... )